Sony Pictures Entertainment produces the Spider-Man films and needs to expand the Spider-Man universe to remain successful. The report analyzes Sony's financial standing and relationship with Disney regarding Spider-Man. It recommends Sony expand its 900+ Spider-Man-adjacent characters in films and TV to diversify beyond the Homecoming series, in case issues arise again in its deal with Disney over Spider-Man involvement in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

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A Market Analysis for
Sony Pictures Entertainment
Holly Faust
Full Sail University
Project & Portfolio II: Business and Marketing
September 29, 2019

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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
This analysis report evaluates the current financial standings of both Sony Pictures
Entertainment and its parent company Sony as well as Sony Pictures’ standing amongst its
competition. This report also addresses Sony Pictures’ current product issues with the Spider-
Man: Homecoming series and its place within the Marvel Cinematic Universe based on its
relationship with Walt Disney Studios. It will address the need to expand on the Spider-Man
Universe and what that looks like for the future of the company.
Sony Pictures Entertainment Logo

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OBJECTIVE
This analysis is to address the need for Sony Pictures Entertainment to expand on their
Spider-Man Marvel Cinematic Universe. This will bring in additional opportunities for the
Motion Pictures department but even more for the Television department which hasn’t had the
same success as the other departments.
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
The research for this report was obtained through external sources such as the internet
and Academic Search Complete and is a mix of both qualitative and quantitative information.
The information and articles mostly came from 2019 with a few from 2018 and 2017. All
research was conducted in the month of September 2019. One issue with the research was the
unfolding drama of the Disney/Sony MCU deal over Spider-Man. There was a lot of changes and
unknowns as the deal was worked out over the course of September.
RESEARCH AND KEY FINDINGS
Sony Pictures Entertainment produces Spider-Man. Their parent company is Sony which
was originally Tokyo Telecommunications Engineering Corporation founded in 1946 by Masaru
Ibuka. Founder Masaru Ibuka said the purpose of setting up the company was to "establish an
ideal factory that stresses a spirit of freedom and open mindedness that will, through technology,
contribute to Japanese culture." Symbolizing Sony's spirit of challenge to "do what has never
been done before," the company has continued to release countless "Japan's first" and "world's
first" products.” (Sony.net, n.d.)
Sony Pictures Entertainment was formerly Columbia Pictures. Columbia Pictures began
in 1918 and, was purchased by Coca-Cola in 1984 for $750 million. It was then sold to Sony in

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1989 for $4.8 billion. After an initial loss of more than $2 billion; the company came back to
earn more than $4 billion worldwide with movies such as “The Da Vinci Code” or franchises
such as Spider-man, Men in Black, and James Bond. (Goetz, 2019)
Over the last 5 years Sony stock has risen 13.4%, from 4.4% in August 2014 to 17.8% in
September 2019. (Yahoo! Finance, 2019) Sony Pictures Entertainment reported around $8
billion in revenue in FY 2016. (Goetz, 2019)
Yahoo!finance Sony Stock 1

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Currently Sony Picture Entertainment’s biggest product is the Marvel Cinematic Universes’
(MCU) Spider-Man Series. They range from Spider-man, The Amazing Spider-man, The
Amazing Spider-man 2, Spider-man 1, Spider-man 2, Spider-man 3, Spider-man: Far from
Home, Venom, and Spider-man: Into the Spider-Verse. Other movies from the MCU Spider-
Man world are Morbius, Venom, Silver & Black, and Punisher: War Zone.
The domestic target market for Sony Pictures’ Spider-Man is parents and
kids ranging from 12-49 years old that reside with-in the U.S. and are fans of
Spider-Man, comic books (particularly Marvel) and the Marvel Cinematic
Universe. (ASM2 Workshop Deck, 2013)
According to the website The Numbers, Sony Pictures biggest competitors
are Warner Brothers, Universal Pictures, and Walt Disney Studios. They list Sony Pictures as
number two among these four companies with box office numbers of $17,230,368,504
domestically and $39,008,143,546 worldwide as of 2019. (The Numbers, n.d.) Although Walt
Disney Studios is ranking number four, I believe that they are actually Sony Pictures biggest
competition and ally at the same time. The reason for this is Walt Disney Studios is now the
parent company of Marvel Studios.
Throughout the course of 2019 there was a failed discourse between Sony and Disney as
to the issue of how to move forward with the Spider-Man series as it was now interlocked with
the Avenger series. At the beginning of September, it was announced that talks had failed at
the two companies coming to a deal and that meant Spider-Man was left on the sidelines until
further notice. This left Sony with no other option then to step back from the Tom Holland
Target Market Infographic 1

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Spider-Man storyline. This did, on the other hand, allow Sony to continue to look at the idea of
expanding on even more of the characters from within Sony’s Universe of Marvel Characters.
In March 2019, Elaine Low wrote about Sony Pictures Entertainment and chairman Tony
Vinciquerra’s plans for the company. Vinciquerra talked a lot about changes that needed to be
made in the television/film side of the company but focused more on the expansion of the Marvel
Universe in both the Television and Motion Picture side of SPE.
“We have the next seven or eight years laid out as to what we’re going to do with that asset,
and that will not only be on the film side – it’ll be on the TV side,” says Vinciquerra. “Our
television group will have its own set of characters from within that universe that we will seek to
develop.” “Sony is essentially internally auditioning its more than 900 Spider-Man-adjacent
characters, to which it has attached the moniker Sony’s Universe of Marvel Characters.” (Low,
2019)
Vinciquerra plans to build on the other characters in the Spider-Man world and to hopefully
partner with companies like Disney who own other Marvel rights. He plans to create more sitcoms
around the other characters in the Marvel Universe as individual stories with interconnected worlds
and story lines, (Low, 2019)
As of September 27, 2019, the two
companies have once again brokered a deal
to produce a third Spider-Man: Homecoming.
Kevin Feige, President of Marvel Studios,
made the announcement. “I am thrilled that
Spidey’s journey in the MCU will continue,
and I and all of us at Marvel Studios are very
Walt Disney/Sony Spider-Man 1

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excited that we get to keep working on it,” Feige said in the statement. “Spider-Man is a
powerful icon and hero whose story crosses all ages and audiences around the globe. He also
happens to be the only hero with the superpower to cross cinematic universes, so as Sony
continues to develop their own Spidey-verse you never know what surprises the future might
hold.” (Whitten, 2019)
CONCLUSIONS
With consideration to the amount of time it took to broker the deal with Walt Disney
Studios Sony Pictures Entertainment needs to look at ways to continue to be successful outside
of the Spider-Man: Homecoming Series. The company has made a significant amount of money
over the years and shows that it can hold its place among its competition. As the second highest
domestic box office grossing film studio Sony has proven its place and consistency. There does
not appear to be any waning in the consumers thirst for MCU movies or series anytime in the
near future and this is the company’s bread and butter. The success of other superhero television
series has shown Sony that this is an avenue meant to be pursued.
RECOMMENDATIONS
Due to the extreme success the Spider-Man Universe has brought to Sony it is imperative
for the company to make its next step the continued expansion of the other characters in both the
film and television department. As stated above by Mr. Vinciquerra there are more than 900
Spider-Man-adjacent characters. (Low, 2019) This leaves an almost unending amount of
possibilities for Sony for this expansion.

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Although, Sony has already begun to look ahead over the next seven to eight years for
this expansion, I believe it needs to take full advantage of the Sony/Disney deal while it is still
available. If this past year has taught the company anything it should be that Spider-Man can be
dangled over its head by Disney now that it owns Marvel Studios. Sony needs to set a very
specific goal within the next five years as to how to withdraw the Spider-Man: Homecoming
storyline from the rest of the Marvel Avenger’s Universe if this problem begins to arise again.

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REFERENCES
Sony Pictures Entertainment [Logo]. (n.d.) Retrieved from
https://logos.fandom.com/wiki/Sony_Pictures_Entertainment
Sony Corporate Info History. (n.d.) Retrieved from
https://www.sony.net/SonyInfo/CorporateInfo/History/
Goetz,L. (2019). The top 4 companies owned by Sony (SNE,ERIC). Retrieved from
https://www.investopedia.com/articles/markets/021016/top-4-companies-owned-sony-
sne-eric.asp
Statista (2019). Sony’s net income from 2007 to 2018 (in billion Japanese yen/million U.S.
dollars) Retrieved from
https://www.statista.com/statistics/279271/net-income-of-sony-since-2018/
Sony Corporation (SNE) (2019). Sony Corporation Stock-Yahoo! Finance. Retrieved from
https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/SNE/chart
ASM2 Workshop Deck (2013). Spider-Man: A snapshot. Retrieved from
https://wikileaks.org/sony/docs/01/Market/MP_MARKET/MKT%20Columbia/PPTs/AS
M%202%20SUMMIT%20MEETING%20LA/ASM2%20Workshop%20Deck%20(8-29-
13)REV%2010-4.pptx.pdf
The Numbers. (n.d.) Retrieved on September 29, 2019 from
https://www.the-numbers.com/movies/production-companies/
Whitten, S. (2019). Sony and Disney reach a deal to continue Spider-Man movie partnership.
Retrieved from
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/09/27/sony-and-disney-reach-deal-to-continue-spider-man-
movie-partnership.html
Low, E. (2019). Going it alone. Variety,

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343(9) 42-45 Retrieved from Academic Search Complete/Film & Television Literature
Index with Full Text
Bacon, T. (2019). Disney gets 25% of Spider-Man 3 profits (but also pays production cost).
[Image]. Retrieved from
https://screenrant.com/spiderman-3-sony-marvel-disney-deal-details/